cowboy country

zacatecas the steep and narrow cobblestone streets of zacatecas--yet another famous silver city--didn´t throw us as much as those in san migel and guanajuato, proof that we are finally adjusted to donkey-town streets. we arrived in zacatecas in the early evening to find the entire town packed for a week-long and widely international dance festival, with performers from all over mexico and the world, from such faraway places as thailand, greece, and norway. luckily we were just in time for the festival´s grand finale, the next day, but unfortunately our timing also meant the entire town was booked. incredibly, or by now typically, the 2 brothers who own the first hostel we tried offered to let us stay the night at the centrally located and colonial home of their mother, the sweetest woman, who insisted we take her master bedroom. not too shabby. the next morning we began our exploration of the city with a tour of mina el eden, the source of the city´s wealth; at its height, the mine was pumping out 20% of the world´s silver. a miniture train took us to the 4th level of the mine (the lower three levels are flooded with ground water) and we walked through 16th-century tunnels, passing by mine shafts and over deep underground pools. from what we could gather from our guide (who spoke only spanish and muy muy rapido), the mine was run with indigenous labor (many children) who worked under horrific conditions with up to 5 deaths per day. an elevator took us up and out of the mine, depositing us at the cable car station for a ride to cerro de la bufa, the rock-top hill that towers over the city, but we were too impatient to bear the lines and too cheap to pay for the ride. instead, we summitted cerro de la bufa by foot the next day (because really, we just don´t get enough exercise), and were rewarded at the top with great views of the city and also the barren hillsides that surround. that night we lined the streets with all the rest to catch the dance festival parade, in which all the performing countries strut their stuff for one last time before adoring curbside crowds.

we took our time leaving zacatecas as our next stop was only in fresnillo, an easy 58km north. the state of zacatecas is one of mexico´s largest in area but smallest in population (much to our liking), but a limited choice in watering holes determined the breakdown of our rides to durango. the ride to fresnillo was flat and uneventful, save for the little tumble abby took just in front of the corona factory (no further comment). after fresnillo, we crossed the tropic of cancer and found ourselves cycling in true nothern highlands, where the semi-desert is dry and rugged and strewn with cactus and stensons--cowboy country for true!--but where the climate is not too hot because of the altitude. we spent the night in sombrete, a traditional and dusty mexican town, and made preparations to spend the next full day and night camped out at sierra de organos, a national park 30km from sombrete. the distinctive rock formations of sierra de organos could be seen 20km from the highway, and while they are impressive from afar, the interior of the giant rock pillars and organ pipes commmanded an awesome sense of the eloquent grandeur of the land we are traversing. the day was also a much needed decompression from the constant noise and activity of the cities we sometimes have trouble combating. but in the park there was little else to absorb than the grand simplicity of rock, wind, and desert shrub.

the way to durango was paved in wildflowers, a curvy climb, and a final 30km of rough and crumbling highway that we faced during sweltering midday heat. durango is another sunny and stenson-donning cowboy town, and also a major cross-roads for the northwest heartland. on our layover day we took a short ride (30km roundtrip and without packs--yippee!) into the hills to visit villa del oeste, the former wild west movie set for such hot shots as john wayne, clark gable, chuck connor and burt lancaster. finally driven to the edge by the barrenn mountains and desert, bridget stuck her head inside the saloon, while abby stuck hers into a noose.